StormWake
by wanderingsmith
Summary: S/W - 1x11-The eye ep 'addy', takes off from leave me light's world of Awake before Rising after ch6
1. Chapter 1

Summary: S/W - 1x11-The eye ep 'addy', based on leavemelight's world of Awake before Rising  
Warning: Spoilers for The storm/The eye and Awake before Rising up to ch5  
Rating: PG13  
Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this.

AN: _so. __This is based on (**a spin-off, seperate from: it is not a chapter of...**) (**leave me light**)'s wonderful world of__ Awake before Rising (http: /leave-me-light. livejournal. com/ 9155. html) __**-with the lady's gracious permission :):)-**. It takes off after chapter 5. Then encounters 1x11 - The eye. And picks up after John kills the company of Genii with the shield. **Change of scene**: Instead of being in an anonymous stairwell, John is working his way to grounding station 3 and is near when Kolya contacts him. Oh! and the conversation is different too ;)_

_not betaed, feel free to point out mistakes._

"Major Sheppard. You just killed 55 men!"

John never stopped jogging down the corridor toward the last known location of his prey, feeling the frozen hatred burning in his chest.

The frigid, wet exhaustion of his body, the terrible pain hiding at the back of his mind; neither mattered. The cold of his wedding band, pressed into his skin by his grip on the P-90, kept him focused, made him keep moving; overwhelmed the thoughts clamouring to take him over and make him break. He would not grieve. Not yet.

His voice was a dull, animal growl, unrecognizable as his own, "Did I. Good. The rest of you won't be a problem either." He'd never believed he was capable of being a cold-blooded killer, but he was finding himself damned skilled at it. Once, that would have disgusted him, but now. Now the icy wind in his mind relished knowing he could avenge her. The men he was dispatching as he encountered them were no more than pawns, like the ones he'd killed with the gate. They weren't his real target; but they had stood by, had done nothing. And were interfering with his goal. They were non-innocent casualties of his war.

"Your actions are going to destroy the city."

The city. The city belonged to Elizabeth; she would never have wanted that bastard to have it, even if that meant destroying it. And he would do her will. Always.

John smiled humorlessly, surprised the man didn't yet realize the mistake he'd made. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to have a reason to live Kolya? Is there anyone you would die for?"

Kolya stilled, the hungry hatred he heard from the man who was single-handedly killing his strike force giving him a rarely-felt shiver of dread. "You stay away from her, Sheppard." Too late he realized what his stressed mind had let slip.

John's lip sneered, not really giving a damn, other than as a way to torture the bastard back. He made sure to inject gloating in his tone, "She's here? Goldilocks? You sound too old for her."

Kolya hand spasmed on the radio, "You stay away from her!" He knew first-hand what could happen in an enemy's hands; what he would do.

"Why the Hell would I do that Kolya? You killed my reason to live; let along to be honourable. Now I'm going to kill you. And if that means going through every other goddamn Genii that's invaded our home... All to the good." The words had risen until they were being shouted furiously.

Kolya looked at the shivering woman a few feet from him. So that was where he'd miscalculated; not merely the man's leader but his lover. Well, there were worse things to have someone suffer than killing, and he needed to protect... his people. He pulled his knife out and stepped over to Dr. Weir.

Elizabeth had been listening to the conversation. When she saw the Genii commander come after her, she yelled John's name as she jumped up, letting go of the ring she'd been holding onto through her shirt, hoping he heard her, feeling Rodney stand with her. She could plainly guess what her captor was planning; could only hope that John was near enough to get here in time.

All aside from not wanting to die, the thought of being the source of more pain for her... husband, filled her with fury. Made her want to scream and kick and to Hell with diplomacy.

The instant the thin sound of her voice had filtered through the noise of the storm, John's world had spun on its axis again. The fear in her tone was driving him to run long before he assimilated the fact that she lived. Eyes wide as his heart dropped to his gut in terror at the weapon he'd just blithely handed their enemy. As he reached the last corner before the station, he heard Kolya yell his name in stereo; radio and real. Heard Elizabeth cry out in pain.

He didn't stop, didn't let himself think and feel. Spun around the corner with his gun ready and eyes scanning desperately for the danger. He had one chance, and this time he wasn't going to fail to protect his wife. He couldn't.

As Kolya pulled her by her hair, Elizabeth could hear Rodney moaning nearby where he'd been struck down. Heard Kolya shouting John's name into the radio. Felt his knife come to rest on her cheek; couldn't struggle anymore for fear of doing the damage herself. Fear for what they were all about to suffer, for her city and her people, warred with the fury at her helplessness, the lack of choices available to her. Grief for lost opportunities: the knowledge they could have gained from Atlantis, the life she had begun to contemplate with the man who was her husband. Grief and fury both for the hollow pain she'd heard in his voice; pain that was about to be made worst.

Thinking of him, likely aware now that she still lived, she looked up to the doorway. And saw movement. Praying she was doing the right thing, she took the risk and jerked her head away from the blade, knowing she would only have this one chance, ignoring the pain to her hair. Hearing a shot and feeling the grip on her disappear, she staggered, finding her balance a second before John was reaching for her.

By the grace of whatever powers existed in this galaxy, John's eyes and sights locked on Kolya before the man saw him. He saw Elizabeth jerk herself away from danger even as he pulled the trigger, was running forward without waiting for their enemy to fall. Still holding his gun in one hand, he wrapped both his arms around the woman pulling herself upright.

"Elizabeth." He was out of breath and shaking with reaction. That she was alive, at how close he came to losing her. Again. Burying his face in her neck, gripping her too tightly and unable to say more than her name; aware that his gun was probably digging into her back. Relief mixing with elation, for a minute unable to think of anything beyond holding on to her. Right there and then she was safe and in his arms and nothing else mattered. Words were trying to pour out of him, of promise and belonging and possession. Need and love. But he couldn't; couldn't bring them to making sense when holding her was so much more important.

When he finally did start to think again, the last few hours came back to him with a raw awareness of his actions, of the darkness he'd allowed to take him. He stiffened, adrenaline-fed emotions swinging him into the thought that he had no right to hold her like this. Not now. He... But she had to know what he'd been doing, and she was holding onto him for dear life, the nails of one hand digging into his neck, the other hand gripping his vest, her shoulders shaking with choked-off emotions.

She was alive. Alive and in his arms. Damned if he was letting her go again until she pushed him away. She deserved better, but he was the one here; the one she held onto. The one whose ring she willingly wore...

He heard the sound of movement and looked up, senses re-expanding to remember where they were. Automatically raising his weapon before he realized it was McKay, moving to stand in the corridor, out of the rain and on guard.

Keeping his cheek on Elizabeth's soaked temple for another breath, he exchanged nods with the man, silently thanking him for letting them have this time. And taking the watch when he wasn't paying attention. Wondering how Elizabeth would feel about this side of their relationship becoming public. He felt her pull herself together before he got around to making himself straighten.

She lifted her head, hands still holding onto him; yelling to be heard, "We have to finish Rodney's plan, John. The storm is about to hit."

He nodded, running his free hand down her back one last time before fighting off the reluctance to let her go, taking her hand to keep her close as he gathered McKay along by eye. "We stay together, they're guarding the generators now. Come on."

"John, no. That'll take too long!" Elizabeth saw his jaw tighten stubbornly but she wasn't about to let him make bad judgements based on their relationship, their feelings; he had to understand there would always be more important things than the two of them. "If you give me the P-90, I can guard the door while Rodney works. You get that generator back up and running as fast as you can and then come back."

He wanted to argue. Desperately. But the spray of the rising waves hitting the railing was no joke; and she was right, as usual. The terror that rose at the notion of letting her out of his sight choked all words from him, but after he handed her his weapon, he took the precious seconds to cup her cheeks and pull her into a fierce kiss, refusing to let anything in the damned universe keep him from what he'd thought he would never have again. Even if it was the last time, even if it made her furious. When he let her go, he pulled his handgun out, scavenged Kolya's and once again ran down the corridor, not looking back. Drawing reassurance from the ring still cold between his hand and the handgun.

This time he wasn't stalking anyone. He ran hell-bent for leather, using the lifesigns detector to avoid everyone he could, using speed and surprise to shoot the few he couldn't. He didn't waste a second when he got to the generator, dropping the missing piece straight in before he'd even stopped moving properly, detector still in his hand. Swinging back out of the room as the machine started up again.

He'd met up with Ford and the rest of his people on the way back to the station. Rodney had completed his repairs quickly and they'd all headed to the control room together, herding Genii out of the about-to-be-dangerous corridors as they went.

John had managed to keep from pulling Elizabeth to him when he got back to the station but not once they secured the control room. With Rodney scampering around putting his plan in action and everyone else busy locking down their prisoners, he had too much time to think, to again feel the blast of pain that had numbed him when he'd heard she was dead.

He hadn't let her more than a few steps from him since he'd taken his P-90 back, and now he closed even that distance. Standing in front of the bank of consoles Rodney was twitching around on, she turned her tired eyes toward him when he stepped up behind her.

She was the one to take his left arm and pull it around her waist, leaning her back on his chest without word or hesitation. Annihilating at last the niggling fear that she would be disgusted with him after what he'd done, now that she'd had time to recover from being held hostage.

Just feeling her breathing under his hand calmed him. Drew down the adrenaline that had overdriven his system and left him feeling empty and exhausted. Her weight on him forced his reflexes to keep him up, and the way she stroked his hand kept him grounded in reality. He kept lazy watch on everyone, too drained to bother hassling McKay to hurry, glad Teyla and Ford were capably covering for his too-tired self.

He just stood, holding Elizabeth; every so often rubbing his prickly jaw against her hair. Not giving a damn that he was being obvious. Elizabeth had pulled him close, aware of the people around them; she had to know he would take that as permission to relax their rules of conduct.

He finally saw the shield rise over Atlantis, felt his teammates coming to stand besides them, watching along with him as the tsunami hit the shield and splashed over and around. The boom of the encounter only the beginning of the show of arching tendrils of white-water, highlighted with ocean bottom particles and the dark blue of the concentrated wave hit. The antithesis of fireworks; equally riveting.

Once the tsunami had passed, Carson had started treating McKay, and everyone else had dispersed, John and Elizabeth making their way to the windows looking out. With the shield safely up and the invaders safely corralled, they could rest for a bit.

Elizabeth watched the storm raging outside the shield, her soaked clothing a cold layer on her body. She decided there were definite uses to a warm-blooded husband. The word, and her increasing use of it, even if it was only in her mind, made her smile. John was snugged up behind her, both arms around her now, his head resting heavily on hers. His even breathing sounded almost like sleep, which made her smile widen into a grin. Romantic he might be, but he wasn't given to trusting people; and yet, here he was, letting himself rest on her. Her fingers, absently caressing his hands and forearms crossed over her stomach, touched the metal of his ring, stilling. Tracing the material as she thought.

When this was over, they needed to talk. All aside from his overheard words to Kolya, they'd both displayed far too many emotions in front of their people.

She didn't regret any of it. Couldn't allow herself such blindness. Even before this storm had hit, their emotions were getting too strong, too near the surface. Kissing him that day had been... maybe a mistake. But mostly a source of torture.

The general had been all too right; whatever made them marry mere hours after meeting hadn't been made of alcohol. Merely exposed by it. They were attracted to each other; and by now, the potential for stronger emotions between them had had enough time and proximity to grow. The possessive tone in his voice when he had called her his wife had been as plain as day. She'd never thought she would marry someone possessive either. Had never thought such a thing could actually make her feel safe.

She heard him grunt softly in her ear as he woke from his doze, identifying what she felt in response as her own dose of possession. She wanted to be warm, to always feel stronger for the steel-hard support besides her, to not think twice about spending the night besides him in the infirmary. To protect him when she could. Damn anyone who had something to say about it; she trusted him to work with her, she trusted John to not see a relationship between them as anything to do with the command structure. Cut off from Earth as they were, if they wanted to rewrite the rules... She had a feeling Atlantis would need every bit of their shared strength if they were to survive. And damned if they didn't deserve a little happiness, a little ease.

Feeling the nonetheless-shocking decision made, Elizabeth reached up for the string around her neck, conscious of the way John had stiffened and seemed to hold his breath.

Dragging his feet to where Elizabeth and the major where standing, Rodney wasn't sure what made him hesitate. But then he saw Elizabeth reach for that cord she'd taken to wearing around her neck. Saw her take something pale from it and into her right hand. As Rodney's eyes widened, the major took her left hand and kissed the ring finger, his shoulders seeming to relax for the first time since the Genii had attacked, smiling faintly at the woman in his arms. Then he reached for what Rodney briefly saw was a ring, slipping it on her finger, then holding their hands side by side.

He started forward again slowly. Side by side, even from ten feet away, it was obvious they were wedding bands. How he'd missed that realization when the major had started wearing jewelry was a mystery.

When he got near he finally looked up at their faces. Elizabeth was resting back on her 'husband's' chest, eyes closed now and her head turned into his shoulder, seemingly unaware of Rodney's approach. Major Sheppard, on the other hand, was looking right at him, calm; not bothering to hide what they were doing. Just as well. The words he'd heard while on the grounding station, not to mention that kiss, had made this... a great deal less surprising to him than it could have been.

"I take it congratulations have been in order?" Elizabeth's eyes opened and he watched the two look at each other.

When she shrugged and went back to taking her turn resting, John's lip quirked, rather enjoying the rare occasion of being left in charge; enjoying being trusted and wondering if she planned to at last start to let some of that control go. Not sure what she'd really meant to imply by putting on her ring but content to follow his wife's lead wherever it took them.

"Yeah McKay, a little while."

AN2: Rant ahead- _ I was witting this (the beginning especially) and trying to follow Awake and change their behaviour to two people who are on their way to admitting their married... but then I realized that there was no difference between that and the show! I mean seriously, his reaction... not that of a military commander. not even one friends with his boss! I'll excuse the negotiating with kolya.. though considering they had him win against the menarans.. seems an odd message that he would do such a crap job here.. unless his emotions were way too involved. but not even asking about McKay (so there mcshep! lol) after she's declared dead, and dropping negotiations,... and yeah, killing invaders is well within his job... but... and then the stairwell. seriously, 'Weir is alive?' out of that whole statement form kolya that's all that meant anything to him. sheesh, oh no, no romantic feelings there... hell, even kolya could see it and he never saw them together!!_

_so, yeah, didn't like Goldilocks, not believable as a fighter and way too whiny. But I got vibes between her and kolya.. very weird. and that whole tsunami hit shield and just vanish... what, the shield absorbs water?? why didn't they say so?_ -sorry, rant over now :) thanks for reading!

!!  
And now go check out **anuna81**'s **gift sequel** Like an old married couple would (http: /anuna-81. livejournal. com/ 68545. html? style mine# cutid1)!! :)


	2. Morning

AN: _B-day/timestamp fic for momm2five, Storm Wake - the next day _

Heat and pressure. Not usually a good way to wake up.

But being lulled by the sound of calm breathing and the scent of Elizabeth's hair and skin... More than made up for being held down to the bed under too many covers.

He reluctantly opened his eyes to see a flood of indirect yellow light in the room; like some mythical beach under a caressing sun. He almost expected to hear the surf on the sand outside the window. To see a honeymoon fruit basket on the dresser.

Smiling with content joy, John's eyes were drawn to the hand stroking lazily in the hair over his heart. Every twitch made light shift and flicker on her ring and he reached the fingers she wasn't laying on to gently bring her palm to his lips. He felt her lashes move on his skin and turned his head to meet her opening eyes, laying a kiss on her wedding band before pulling his lips back.

She was still half-asleep, shivering from the soft kiss on her tender skin and feeling so warm, safe and rested... the small smile on his lips as he let her rest her hand on his jaw was as tender as the look in his eyes, and she didn't want to wake up any further, didn't want to move from this perfect instant.

She had to strain to hear the soft words when he finally spoke.

"I love you."


End file.
